Little hope for college graduates as formal sector fails to create new jobs in 2016

The Kenyan economy lost its job creation momentum for the first time in four years

Large numbers of previously employed individuals joined the labour market following a wave of staff retrenchments that dominated the sector in 2016

Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) data released yesterday shows that the economy created 832,900 new formal and informal sector jobs in 2016, down from 841,600 a year earlier

It was the first time the economy has spun fewer jobs in a year since the Jubilee government came to power in 2013. The economy’s jobs creation momentum has grown steadily from 750,000 four years ago to nearly one million in 2015, before declining to last year’s 832,900.

Out of the 832,900 new jobs, only 85,600 were formal, accounting for, which continues a long-running trend where the informal sector accounts for the bulk of new jobs.

However, the recent outcome has pulled President Uhuru Kenyatta’s government further from its target of minting one million jobs a year, as promised in his Jubilee coalition’s 2013 election manifesto.

The labour market squeeze came despite the economy growing at a robust rate of 5.8% compared to 5.7% in 2015 – once again creating the impression of a jobless growth.

Cases of motor vehicle theft shot up by 22% last year as crime levels continued to soar, the 2017 Economic Survey shows.

The data shows that 1,355 vehicles were reported stolen to the police in 2016 compared to the 1,111 the year before

The Economic Survey indicates that crime went up by 6.2% to 76,986 from the 72,450 cases recorded in 2015

Data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) found that offences against persons and stealing were the main types of crime reported in 2016 accounting for 29 per cent and 13 per cent of crimes reported respectively.

A recent report by the Association of Kenya Insurers (AKI) indicates that vehicles whose value is below Sh1 million are the most likely to be stolen. The AKI reported that out of the 406 cars reported stolen to insurers, 71 per cent were of the Toyota brand while 51 per cent were white in colour. Silver, black, blue and grey vehicles, in that order also made it to the list of cars stolen most frequently.

The survey shows that males dominated the list of offenders at 77.9 per cent even as the proportion of female offenders increased from 20.7 per cent to 22 per cent.

Assault accounted for more than half of the total number of persons reported while creating disturbance and defilement accounted for 22.7 and 16.4 per cent respectively. In total, the number of persons reported as having committed offences against morality and offences against other persons increased by 2.9 percent in 2016 to 27,018 from 26,250 in 2016.

Communication Authority raids rogue postal and courier operations

The Communication Authority of Kenya (CA) is cracking down on illegal postal and courier operations

The regulator shut down 13 such businesses last week

In a statement released this morning, the sector regulator said that it had raided businesses in Murang’a, Kirinyaga, Laikipia, Marsabit, Isiolo and Meru counties

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